AGP ditches BJP for rural polls, LS pact in jeopardy

TNN | Oct 15, 2018, 11.59 AM IST

JORHAT: BJP ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has decided to go it alone in the panchayat elections and may even fight Lok Sabha elections on its own.

"We do not want power at the cost of the interests of the indigenous people of Assam. We have decided to fight alone in the upcoming panchayat elections," AGP president and agriculture minister Atul Bora said at Amguri in Sivasagar district during the party's 34th foundation day celebrations on Sunday.

He added: "We have also decided to contest the Lok Sabha election alone if BJP continues to support the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016." The amendment proposes citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The declaration comes just two days after BJP said it would retain its ties with all regional parties in Assam for the panchayat and Lok Sabha elections. "A party that favours the bill is against the indigenous people of Assam. We have to sever ties with them," AGP founder-president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said.

"The provisions of the bill are detrimental to the greater interest of the people of India," an AGP mem-orandum had said last mo-nth. The parties had come together to form a government with Bodoland People's Front support in 2016.